Business automation services for UK service businesses and B2B teams

We turn one repeatable business process into a controlled workflow with a named owner, a clear exception route and a practical way to see whether it is working.

Discuss a business process See the delivery method

Business automation services map a repeatable process, choose the lightest workable approach, build or configure it and hand it to a named owner. Durward works alongside the systems already in place across customer enquiries, commercial follow-up and internal evidence preparation.

What the service does and does not mean

What is included

Connected-app workflows where a known trigger, record and next action can be made dependable.
Cross-team process work: mapping hand-offs, removing avoidable rework and defining an exception route before the happy path is automated.
A review of the existing platform, its native capabilities and viable integration routes before a new layer is proposed.
Bounded AI-assisted steps when the task, source material, approval and failure path can be named in advance.

What is not included

A wholesale replacement of the client's CRM, booking, finance or operations system.
An RPA product, a promise to automate every legacy screen, or a reason to avoid evaluating the system's available interfaces first.
An unreviewed decision about a customer, a professional case, money, safety or a regulated obligation.
A generic lead list, an autonomous outreach campaign or a claim that a public record proves buying intent.

Automation is not one type of work

The implementation route changes with the process. We separate these situations before proposing a tool or a build.

Connected workflow

A known event in one system creates a controlled next step in another: for example, a missed enquiry creates a queue and an approved response route.

Business process

Several people and systems contribute to one outcome. The work includes hand-offs, evidence, exceptions and the person who owns the final decision, not only an app-to-app connection.

Legacy interaction

Some tasks happen inside older or restricted systems. We assess the authorised access and native routes first; screen-based automation is never assumed to be the answer.

AI-assisted step

AI can prepare a classification, extract fields or draft a response from approved material. It does not remove the need for an owner, a check or a recovery path.

From a repeated problem to an owned workflow

Each engagement uses the same practical sequence, adapted to the process in front of us.

Map the current process

We identify the trigger, existing systems, hand-offs, avoidable waiting and the cases that already need a person.

Buyer receives: A plain-language process map and the named owner for each decision point.
Choose one candidate

We prioritise a bounded process by frequency, value, rework, access, exceptions and whether an outcome can be checked.

Buyer receives: A candidate brief with a reason to proceed, defer or stop.
Decide the approach

We check the incumbent platform, approved integrations and the smallest viable configuration before custom work is considered.

Buyer receives: A recommendation that distinguishes buying, enabling, configuring, integrating or building.
Build and test the controlled route

The workflow is configured or built around agreed sources, permissions, messages, escalation and manual recovery.

Buyer receives: A bounded test route with acceptance criteria and a visible exception queue.
Hand over and review

The process owner sees what ran, what stopped and what needs their judgement; changes follow observed exceptions rather than guesswork.

Buyer receives: An operating handover and a review point for expansion, correction or retirement.

Four workflow patterns we can discuss in concrete terms

Each pattern is centred on a business situation already represented in the Durward portfolio.

B2B market signal to sales review

A B2B supplier wants a more timely way to prepare potential-account research from approved public sources.

Trigger: A defined public event, recorded change or scheduled research run.
Systems or sources: Approved public sources, a research workspace and the client's chosen sales process.
What the workflow prepares: Source-linked account context and a draft research or outreach queue, subject to the client's approved audience and message process.
Human checkpoint: A commercial owner reviews relevance, claims, contact route and whether any message should be sent.
Exception route: Missing, conflicting or weak source material stays in the research queue rather than becoming a sales claim.
Success measure: Source completeness, correct routing and the proportion of items a reviewer can act on.

Old quote or service date back to an owner

A business has historic quotes, accounts or due-service records but no consistent route for deciding what deserves a follow-up.

Trigger: A record reaches an agreed ageing, due-date or status condition.
Systems or sources: Client-authorised CRM, quote, booking or service records.
What the workflow prepares: A deduplicated, source-linked follow-up queue with missing information and suppression checks made visible.
Human checkpoint: The account, service or commercial owner chooses the action and approves any live contact process.
Exception route: Ambiguous ownership, an incomplete record or a suppressed contact is held for a person instead of being chased automatically.
Success measure: Queue quality, recorded ownership and the number of unresolved exceptions, agreed with the client before testing.

Missed enquiry to an accountable next step

An appointment-based business needs a missed call or routine enquiry to reach a booking route or named colleague rather than disappear into voicemail.

Trigger: A missed call, website enquiry or message outside the agreed handling route.
Systems or sources: Phone or messaging record, approved business knowledge and the existing booking or inbox platform.
What the workflow prepares: A predefined acknowledgement, a booking or callback route, and a record for the team to review.
Human checkpoint: A member of the front desk handles uncertainty, a complaint, a sensitive question or any action outside the approved knowledge.
Exception route: The workflow records the enquiry and escalates it when it cannot safely answer or route it.
Success measure: Whether every in-scope enquiry reaches a recorded next step and can be reviewed from the business’s own records.

Documents and messages into a review pack

An operational team repeatedly gathers scattered material before a person can assess a case or approve the next action.

Trigger: A new case, a scheduled review date or a defined batch of documents and messages.
Systems or sources: Client-authorised documents, email or operational records, with the source kept visible.
What the workflow prepares: Extracted fields, a source-linked summary and a list of gaps or conflicting information for review.
Human checkpoint: The responsible professional or operations owner validates the material and makes the substantive decision.
Exception route: Conflicting, missing or sensitive information is highlighted for review; the workflow does not resolve it.
Success measure: Traceable source links, visible exceptions and a review pack that can be accepted or corrected.

What makes a workflow safe to operate

A workflow becomes an operating process when its owner, controls and review path are clear. Those controls are part of the service from the start.

Before the workflow acts

A named owner, trigger, authoritative record and agreed business outcome.
A defined exclusion list for low-confidence, duplicate, sensitive or out-of-scope cases.
A testable acceptance criterion, including what a person needs to see when the route stops.

With the accountable team

Approval of messages, commercial actions, customer contact and any change to the operating boundary.
The judgement on exceptions, source conflicts and cases that carry professional, financial or customer consequence.
The decision to expand, amend or stop the workflow after the controlled test.

Is a business automation service the right starting point?

A useful first conversation establishes whether there is one process worth making more dependable, not whether every task can be automated.

A good fit

A repeated process has a visible trigger, a known owner and enough consistent source material to map it.
A team can point to hand-offs, rework, missed follow-up or a review queue that is worth making clearer.
The business can start with limited, authorised access and a controlled test rather than a broad system change.

Better to pause or solve something else first

The process is still changing every week, has no accountable owner or has no usable source of record.
The intended outcome requires an unreviewed professional, safety, financial or customer decision.
The request is for a generic AI layer before the process, exception route and commercial purpose are understood.

Choose the next useful page

These routes separate service delivery, process understanding and AI-specific work so a buyer can start at the right level.

Supporting information: B2B Lead Generation: public market data into a reviewed sales queue · Quote & Service Recovery: old commercial records into an owned follow-up queue · Research & Evidence Workflows: source-linked preparation for operational teams · Security and data: how we approach data and access boundaries · Talk to Durward about one process

Start with the process that is currently getting missed

Bring one recurring task, the system or record it uses and the person who owns the decision. We will clarify the right first route early.

Discuss a business process See how we work